I1RRARY OF CONGRESS 

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EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA, 



THE 

PERSONAL NARRATIVE 

OF 

if" 

J&ra. Margaret longlaaa, 

A SOUTHERN WOMAN, 

WHO WAS IMPRISONED FOR ONE MONTH 

IN THE 

COMMON JAIL OF NOKFOLK, 

UNDER THE LAWS OF VIRGINIA, 
FOR THE CRIME OF 

TEACHING FREE COLORED CHILDREN TO READ. 

' . - 

^^\ " Search the Scriptures !' r 

'• How can one read unless he be taught V) 

Holt Bl»li, 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT $ CO. 

CLEVELAND, OHIO: 

JEWETT. PROCTOR & WORTHINGTON. 

1854. 









\y-p k 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 18^4, by 

MARGAKET DOUGLASS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 



NARRATIVE &o. 



I am perfectly aware that the public cannot be interested in 
my personal history previous to the occurrences which this 
narrative is designed to lay before them, nor am I vain enough 
to suppose that there would be any thing in it worth relating. 
It will, however, be seen necessary that I should state who and 
what I was, and under what circumstances I found myself 
suddenly placed, by the authorities of the city of Norfolk, in a 
position of such unenviable notoriety. This position was not 
one of my own seeking, nor was I the agent or representative of 
any association. I was not a "Northern emissary," engaged in 
undermining the institutions of the South, and recklessly defying 
her laws, but only a weak and helpless woman, endeavoring to 
do what I deemed my duty to G-od and to humanity. In order 
to relate the circumstances as they occurred, so that they may be 
fully understood, my narrative must necessarily assume a 
personal character, for it was I, and I alone, who was contend- 
ing for a heaven-born principle against not only the authori- 
ties of Norfolk, but against the united strength of the whole 
State of Virginia. The entire population of the commonwealth 
1 



EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA, 



that claims to be the first and noblest in the land were the 
plaintiffs in this case. I, alone, the defendant. My story 
therefore must not be called egotistical. 

It is necessary also that I refer to myself, in order to do away 
■with any impression that I was or am an Abolitionist, as that 
term is usually understood at the South, for I am aware that a 
strong effort will be made to induce this belief on the part of 
the community, in order to weaken the effect which I hope my 
book is destined to produce. I deem it proper, then, to state 
at the outset that such is not the ease, and that I was not con- 
tending against any of the Southern institutions, but only 
against a particular law of the State of Virginia, and of, as I 
believe, some of the neighboring States. Against the operations 
of this law, a large portion of even the inhabitants of Virginia 
are beginning to rebel, as contrary, not only to good morals, but 
to the spirit of our country's institutions. This law, although 
connected with slavery as a Southern institution, has not neces- 
sarily anything to do with the abstract question of slavery itself. 
It is one that might exist in a free State, though, happily it does 
not. It is a law whose influence is felt, not only among the 
slave population of Virginia, but which extends even to the 
whites themselves. By a recent statement made to the Legisla- 
ture of Virginia, the number of grown up white men and women 
in the State is estimated at nine hundred thousand, and of this 
number there are no less than eighty thousand who can neither 
read nor write. The law, in concise terms, prohibits the instruction 
of all colored persons, by means of books or printed papers, but it 
does not prevent the giving of verbal or oral instruction even to 
slaves. In some of the Southern States a similar law exists m 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 



reference only to the slave population, but 1 was not aware until 
my arrest, that the law of Virginia was more stringent, and 
included in its operation the free colored people as well as the 
slaves. Had I known this, and had I not the constant example 
before me of those whom I supposed were well informed as to 
this matter, I should not have dared to set myself up in opposi- 
tion to the laws of a State of which I was a resident. 

I repeat, therefore, most emphatically, that I was not an Abo- 
litionist, and that no person or persons had anything to do with 
the course I pursued, in even the most indirect manner. I am 
a Southern woman, by birth, education, and principles. I have 
been a slaveholder myself, and, if circumstances rendered it neces- 
sary or practicable, I might be such again. With the abstract 
question of slavery I have nothing to do in this book. I write 
it as a Southern woman to the people of the South. I am and 
always have been one of them, and still possess the same attach- 
ment for them and their institutions, that was first instilled into 
me in my childhood, and which has grown stronger during my 
whole life among them. 

I was born in the city of Washington, but removed at a very 
early age to Charleston, South Carolina; where I was subse- 
quently married, and resided, until the year 1845, when the 
painful associations connected with the death of my only- son 
induced me to remove to Norfolk, Virginia, where I led a quiet 
and unobtrusive life, with my only daughter, until the month of 
December, 1853. Having been thrown upon my own resources, 
and possessed of a too independent spirit to be a burden to 
those who might have assisted me, I supported myself and 
child by the labor of my hands; my business being that of 



6 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



vest-making. Being a superior workwoman, I always had an 
abundance of the best work to do ; but it was necessary for me 
to labor incessantly, in order to maintain myself and daughter 
respectably. Being blessed with good health, I was enabled to 
do this. We lived alone, in a retired part of the city, and our 
circle of acquaintances, from choice, not from necessity, was 
rather limited. Our habits were industrious, frugal and retiring. 
We were respected, and led lives that were irreproachable, as 
was abundantly conceded by even the Judge before whom I was 
tried. Our only association with society was that into which 
we were led by the exercise of our feelings of humanity; it 
being our natural disposition to share the little goods we pos- 
sessed with those who were in want or affliction of any sort. We 
now enjoy the happy satisfaction of knowing that we have left 
behind us, many grateful hearts, in those whose distress we have 
relieved, or with whose sorrows we have sympathized. 

This brief history of myself and my antecedents, seemed ne- 
cessary, in order to show who and what I was, and to effectually 
put down the assertions of some of the Southern editors, that I 
was an Abolitionist in disguise, or, at least, was acting at the 
instigation of those who are enemies to the South and her insti- 
tutions. I shall now proceed to relate, as succinctly as possible, 
the history of my personal contest with the great and dignified 
State of Virginia, as represented in the persons of a few men in 
power in the honorable city of Norfolk. 

Being perfectly satisfied with my daughter's society, I craved 
no other, and endeavored to practice the precepts which I wished 
to instil into her mind, and, and, as she grew older, we went on 
hand in hand in our little benevolent duties, making allowances 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 



for the faults of others, practicing mercy and charity to all who 
came in our way, both black and white ; and, as I am a strong 
advocate for the religious instruction of the whole human family, 
it fell to our lot to become the religious and moral instructors of 
a few little colored free children. 

There is a well known barber living in the city of Norfolk, a 
genteel and respectable colored man, much respected in that 
community. Having some business with him, I one day called 
at his shop, into which he politely invited me, Casting my eyes 
around, they fell upon two little colored boys, with spelling 
books in their hands, which they appeared to be very attentively 
engaged in studying. I inquired if they were his children, and 
if they went to school. His reply was, that they were his, but 
that they did not go to school, though he was very anxious to 
have them learn. I then inquired if there were no day schools 
for free colored children. He smiled, and said, No, madam ; 
and he believed that there was no one who took interest enough 
in little colored children to keep a day school for them. I re- 
plied, that this was a pity, but that there was certainly a large 
Sunday school connected with Christ's Church, to which he 
might send his children. His answer was, that his children did 
attend that school, but that they did not learn much ; as they 
had no one to assist them in their lessons during the week ; that 
he kept them at their books, whenever they had any spare time, 
and that they would occasionally pick up a little instruction from 
those who visited his shop. I inquired if he had any education 
himself. He said no, but that he indeed felt the want of it, 
and was very thankful to any one who would take the trouble to 
instruct his children. I then found that he had five children, 
1* 



EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA, 



three of whom were little girls, and that that they were all very 
anxious to learn. Without further consideration or hesitation, 
I then offered to allow my daughter to teach his little boys, 
stating that she would do so with great pleasure. I told him to 
send them every day to my house, and that it need not detain 
them long from his business. He thanked me very kindly, and 
said that he would send them, although their time was Very valu- 
able to him, as they were obliged to wait upon the gentlemen 
who visited his shop. His eagerness for the instruction of his 
children deeply interested me, and, on my return home, I related 
the circumstance to my daughter, who readily assented to my 
proposal. Having no further business with this man, I saw no 
more of him, and had nearly forgotten the occurrence, until 
he called at my house with his little girls. I received him po- 
litely, and spoke kindly to his children, who were neatly dressed, 
and very respectful, and appeared unusually intelligent. Their 
father then said, "Mrs. Douglass, I have told my little girls of 
your kind offer to instruct their brothers, and they are also very 
anxious to learn, and I wish to know if you would not prefer to 
have these two eldest, thinking that the boys might give your 
daughter too much trouble." I replied that it would be no 
trouble, but a pleasure to us, and that he might send both the 
boys and girls regularly every day, and that we would do all we 
could for their religious and moral instruction. I then inquired 
if they had any books. He replied, only such as had been given 
them at Christ Church Sunday school. " Very well/' said I, 
" give them those books, and send them to-morrow." I felt cer- 
tain that there could be nothing wrong in doing during the week 
what was done on Sunday by the teachers in that school, who 



NARRATIVE OI 1 MRS. DOUGLASS. 9 



were members of some of the first families in Norfolk, nor in 
using the very hooks that Were given to the children there 
taught. I was particular also to ascertain that both himself and 
family were free, as I knew that the laws of the Southern states 
did not permit the slaves to be educated, although at the same 
time, all the churches in Norfolk were actually instructing from 
books both slave and free colored children, and had done so for 
years without molestation. 

On the day following the two little girls made their appearance 
alone, their father being unable to spare their brothers from his 
business. My daughter received her little scholars kindly, and 
endeavored to make them feel as comfortably as strange children 
can feel in a strange house. At this time I lived in a neat lit- 
tle house, containing four rooms, situated in a quiet and respect- 
able neighbourhood, with everything genteel and comfortable 
around us, gathered together by our own industry. In this 
house I had lived nearly four years. It was alone, and I 
had engaged it before it was finished, thinking it would form a 
quiet and retired home for myself and daughter. Whether it 
proved to be such or not, my readers will see. Nearly the whole 
block was built up with small tenements, and I soon found that 
my neighbors were not of the most refined class, and would prove 
no associates for us. I therefore determined to live very seclu- 
ded, and be seldom seen or heard. Still, I endeavored to be 
kind and obliging to all who stood in need of my sympathies, 
and made it my business, if any of them were sick or in trouble, 
to administer to their wants by sending nourishment, or, if neces- 
sary, by calling to see them in person ; still receiving none as 



10 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



visitors at my house; for they were a class of people with little 
or no education, and, of course, refinement they knew nothing of. 
They did not appreciate my character and habits, and could not un- 
derstand my retired way of living, and at times we were greatly 
annoyed by them. This I could not at first understand, as I 
knew I did not merit any unkindness from them, but I en- 
deavored to bear "my persecutions with patience, and continued 
to live in my own solitary way, my daughter attending to our 
little domestic affairs, and I steadily employed with my needle. 
The two little girls continued to come every day, and were 
well behaved and very obedient. They soon became indeed, a 
source of pleasure to us. They were very attentive to their 
studies, and with my daughter's unremitting attention, they 
made rapid progress. They were with us nearly a month, when 
my daughter remarked to me, that she would be very sorry to 
part with them, as they learned very fast, and every day re- 
quired more of her attention, and she feared that they would 
interfere with her other duties. Now, up to this time, I had 
not anticipated receiving any compensation for the tuition of 
those children, nor had I dreamed of establishing a regular 
school. What I had done had been merely from the impulses 
of common humanity, without a thought of reward. I casually 
asked my daughter which she would prefer, to teach those 
children, or assist me in sewing; and if she would be willing to 
take charge of a small class of free colored children. She re- 
plied that she was fond of children, and would be glad to teach 
them if she could establish a class. "Very well," I said,, "you 
shall do so : we will open a school on the first of next 
month, (which was June, 1852,) for free colored children. " T 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 11 



thereupon sent word to Mr. Robinson, the father of the two 
little girls, notifying him of our intention, and stating that he 
might send us all the scholars that he could, and that the price 
of tuition would be three dollars per quarter. We were at once 
overrun with applications, and our little school was soon formed 
and well regulated, the children punctual in their attendance, 
and under good discipline. My daughter paid strict attention 
to them, and they made rapid progress in their studies. Our 
school numbered twenty-five pupils, of both sexes, and continued 
in prosperous existence about eleven months. We made no 
secret of the matter, and never intended to do so, nor could we, 
had we desired to ever so much. 

My readers will therefore perceive, that the formation of our 
little school arose from a circumstance entirely accidental, I 
having at first offered simply to teach two or three colored child- 
ren their Sunday school lessons; they being members of Christ's 
Church Sunday school ; and from the very books given to them 
by the ladies and gentlemen engaged in that school. Finding 
those children obedient and well behaved, as well as anxious to 
be taught, I became deeply interested in their welfare, and con- 
tinued from time to time to receive all who offered themselves 
as pupils. Living a life so retired, I needed an occupation in- 
volving some care, and was glad to be engaged in a duty so be- 
nevolent. We attended strictly to their moral and religious instruc- 
tion, and, when they were sick, we promtly visited them, and ad- 
ministered to their wants, and, I am indeed happy to say, although 
I was afterwards cruelly cast into prison and otherwise unjustly 
dealt with, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I suffered in 
a good and righteous cause. I was tot-illy ignorant of any exists 



12 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



ing law prohibiting the instruction of free colored children, but, 
at the same time, I was careful to have no slaves among our 
scholars. Every thing passed on quietly for several months, in 
the ordinary routine of a child's school, with nothing to interest 
my readers particularly, unless it be one incident which will 
never be forgotten by us, viz : the death of one of our little 
scholars, the circumstances of which I will here take the liberty 
to relate. 

She was about fourteen years of age, and, while at school, she 
was mild, humble and obedient, and studied very hard. Her 
form was slender and her constitution very delicate. I frequent- 
ly thought that her close application to her books would injure 
her health, though she seemed predestined to an early grave. 
She was at length taken seriously ill, and we visited her as 
frequently as our engagements would permit. "Will my readers 
go with me into a tottering negro hovel, situated in the very 
heart of the city of Norfolk ? It is a miserable apology for a 
human habitation, containing but two apartments, one above the 
other. On one side of the first, or ground floor, is a wretched 
bed, supported by some boards and broken chairs, and on it 
lies one of Mrs. Douglass's sable scholars, her young life fast 
ebbing away under the ravages of a rapid consumption. Her 
mother, poor woman, is little better off, and her hollow cough tells 
too truly that her own days are numbered. With a constitu. 
tion naturally delicate, and almost worn out by constant watching, 
she is unable to earn anything to add to her little stores, or even 
to obtain the slightest necessary nourishment for her dying child. 
Here is a scene of suffering, and no one to administer to the 
wants of the dying or the living. Common humanity calls 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS, 18 



loudly for the exercise of simple charity, but the cry is unheard, 
Quietly and alone, my daughter and myself sat up, night after 
night, with the suffering child, and endeavored to smooth her 
pathway to the grave. She seemed far more happy and conten- 
ted when we were beside her, and we therefore gave to her all 
the time we could possibly spare. On the night that she died we 
sat with her until a late hour, and, as we were leaving her, she 
said, in broken accents ; — " I thank you, Mrs. Douglass and 
Miss Rosa, for all you have done for me : you have taught me 
to pray and to read my Bible, but I shall never read it again ; 
you must pray for me before you go/' We did so, and left hex- 
in a quiet slumber, from which she awoke only, as we trust, in 
heaven. We took charge of the funeral arrangements, had her 
poor corpse neatly attired for its last repose, and saw that every 
thing was done decently and in order. Six of her school mates, 
selected previously by herself, dressed in white, acted as pall 
bearers at the funeral, and were followed by the rest of the 
school, I in a close carriage bringing up the rear of the proces- 
sion. Yes, I followed to the grave the remains of a poor little 
negro child, and as this was a stretch of humanity that the good 
people of Norfolk could neither appreciate nor understand, I sup- 
pose I may trace to it the beginning of their future persecutions, 
which resulted finally in the descent upon my establishment by 
the officers of the law. 

The descent was made on my school on the 9th day of May, 
1853, between eight and nine o'clock in the morning, when the 
children had nearly all assembled. No note of warning had 
been given of this movement, and it was as unexpected as the 
sudden upheavings of an earthquake. Our school-room was 



14 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



situated in the second story back room. My daughter had but 
a few moments before taken her seat at her humble pine table, 
and was surrounded by her little sable scholars. Sable, did I 
say? No, not all; for in many cases the difference could 
scarcely be perceived between them and white children. Yes, 
Mrs. Douglass " condescended" to teach free black men's, chil- 
dren, and free white men's children — some of the latter being, 
very probably, among her real persecutors ! It was a horrible 
crime, was it not ? 

All was going on as peaceably as usual, and I had taken my 
seat to commence my daily toil, when a loud knock was made 
at my front door. I answered it myself, when the face of an 
officer presented itself, who inquired who lived up stairs. I 
replied that I alone occupied the house. He then asked if 
Mrs. Douglass lived there. I told him that I was Mrs. Doug- 
lass. He said, "You keep a school." "Yes, sir," was my 
reply. " A school for colored children ?" I answered, " yes." 
" I must see those children," said he. I then demanded what 
business he had with them, or with anything in my house. He 
replied, that he had been sent by the Mayor. "Very good, 
sir," said I, " walk in, and you shall see them ;" and, without 
giving my daughter or the children any notice, I invited him 
up stairs into the school-room. Never will I forget the fright- 
ened state of those children, and the countenance of their young 
teacher. My daughter sat paralyzed, covering her face with 
her hands ; and it was some time before I could restore order 
in the room. Some were crying, some exclaiming " Oh my ! 
oh my !" and some clinging around me in their terror ; but, 
during the excitement, I never lost my presence of mind. As 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 15 



soon as I had restored quiet in the room, I inquired of Mr. 
Cherry, the City Constable, what he wanted with those chil- 
dren. He replied, that he must take them before the Mayor. 
" Yery well, sir," said I, " my daughter and myself will accom- 
pany them." To my astonishment, he went to the head of the 
stairs and gave a loud rap with his club, when another officer 
made his appearance, entering from my back door. For the 
moment I thought that my house was surrounded with officers, 
who perhaps fancied that they had found a nest of thieves. 
They then noted down the names of all the children, as well as 
those of their parents. When they had finished, I politely in- 
formed Mr. Cherry that they were all free children, and all, or 
nearly all, members of the Christ's Church Sunday-school. " It 
makes no difference, madam," he replied, "it is a violation of 
the law to teach any person of color to read or write, slave or 
free, and an act punishable by imprisonment in the peniten- 
tiary." " Very well," I replied, " if they send me to the peni- 
tentiary, it will be in a good cause, and not a disgraceful one." 
Even this information, which was the most profound news to 
me, did not unnerve me at all : for I remembered that our Sa- 
viour was persecuted for doing good, and why should not I be. 
This thought strengthened me to bear my own persecutions for 
ten long months afterwards. 

The officers having left the school room, I politely escorted 
them down stairs, proffering them seats until I made some 
alterations in my dress before I accompanied them to the 
Mayor's office. I immediately returned to the school room, and 
found the children in a dreadful state of excitement. I must 
here inform my readers that all persons of color in the Southern, 



16 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



or Slave States, have a dreadful horror of constables, for it is 
these officers to whom is entrusted the execution of their punish- 
ment for all offences. After I had again brought the children 
to order, I was read}' to accompany the officers. I arranged the 
children in couples and gave them up to the officers, and we all 
started for the Mayor's office, my daughter and myself walking 
at a little distance in the rear. Will my readers please imagine, 
for an instant, a crowd of little children, walking two and two, 
preceded and followed by two stout men, each with a great club 
in his hands ? It reminded me of a flock of little lambs going 
to the slaughter. 

We soon reached the Mayor's Court, and were seated until his 
honor was ready for an examination. Many spectators were 
present to witness the wonderful sight of a sudden descent upon 
a negro school. I had a casual acquaintance with his honor, 
Mayor Stubbs, as I had been before reported to him for an act 
of humanity to a helpless and worthy little woman and her two 
infant children. I had been made acquainted with her suffer_ 
ings and miserable situation, and, from time to time, for two 
years, I had bestowed upon her many acts of kindness and 
sympathy, as cordially as though she had been my own sister 
She had a drunken and worthless husband, who, when in a state 
of inebriation, was very violent and brutal to her, and who 
would often leave her for weeks at a time, without a cent, and 
almost in a state of starvation. At those emergencies she would 
subsist solely on what she received from my bounty. Finally 
her young child, about one year old, was taken very ill. She 
was a kind and affectionate mother, and grieved much for her 
little boy. I endeavored to obtain assistance for her in the 



NARRATIVE OF MRS DOUGLASS. 17 



humane and "benevolent city of Norfolk, but in vain. I alone 
clung to her to the last. She resided at some distance from my 
house. Her child lay for some weeks in a very critical condition, 
and I could not do as much for her as I desired to do. At this 
time her husband was away on one of his drunken carousals in 
the city, and not even the sufferings of his dying child could 
soften his brutal heart. I finally concluded to take her and her 
children into my own house, and made the proposition to her, 
which she received with much gratitude, and readily assented to. 
By my advice she soon had her little chattels gathered together 
and sent them to an auctioneer. The room was soon emptied, 
and, with her two sick children, she hastened to my house, 
where, with our united attentions, we succeeded in raising the 
little sufferer to health. The facts in this case having been 
reported to Mayor Stubbs, he called in person to see me, and 
proved himself to be a good man, as he afterwards was a merciful 
judge. I relate this little circumstance merely to show my first 
acquaintance with this gentleman. 

It was about a year after this occurrence when I entered his 
court-room with my little school, in obedience to his somewhat 
pressing invitation, and attended by his two officers as a guard 
of honor. 

I felt certain that he was a man who desired peace in his 
community, as well as one disposed to temper justice with 
I mercy to all. In about fifteen minutes we were called before 
I him, and the children arranged on one side of the room. He 
I greeted me very cordially with a " Good morning, Mrs. Doug- 
I lass." I politely returned his salutation, when he remarked 
1 that I had quite a large family. 1 said yes, and that they were 



18 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



all very good children. " But, are you aware," lie inquired, 
" that it is a violation of the law of this State to instruct colored 
children to read ?" I replied, that I had not been aware of the 
existing law until that morning ; that these were all free chil- 
dren, and that every one before him was a member of the 
Christ's Church Sunday-school; that this school was held at 
the lecture-room on Freemason street, where primers and other 
books were given to them to learn to read ; and that, if I had 
violated the law, they had been doing so for years. The Mayor 
replied that such facts had never been reported to him, or he 
should have been obliged to do his duty in the matter. A gen- 
tleman, who was present, voluntarily asserted that there was a 
large Sunday-school kept there for colored children, and that he 
thought a violation of the law was such as much in one place as 
another. His Honor then took up the statutes of Virginia, and 
read the law on the subject, which announced the maximum 
penalty attached to its violation to be a fine of one hundred dol- 
lars and imprisonment for six months. He also remarked that 
he was very sorry the matter had occurred, but that he must 
do his duty in the premises. I replied, that I expected him to 
do his duty ) but that with a clear conscience I could bear im- 
prisonment, or anything else. I asked him if anything would 
be done with the children. He said, "Nothing," and gave im- 
mediate orders for their dismissal, when they fled like so many 
little birds let loose from a cage. I could not refrain from 
tears as I looked after them as they left the room, and hastened 
from what was to them a place of exceeding terror. I was re- 
joiced that no harm would fall upon them, and felt that I could 
bear anything rather than that they should suffer in any way, 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. BOTJGtASS. 19 



I then inquired if anything would be done with their parents, and 
was answered, " Nothing." I then asked his Honor if he could 
allow the whole responsibility of the matter to rest upon my- 
self; that my daughter was not yet of age, and that I was alone 
responsible for any act of hers, as well as my own. He inquired 
if I had any friends who would become security for my appear- 
ance before the Supreme Court. "Friends V I replied "I am 
my own best friend, and my daughter's only one." I told him 
to do his duty, and put me in prison at once, if he chose, for I 
would ask no favors at the hands of any man. On receiving 
this reply, he reflected for a moment and then said, " I think 
that I am allowed some discretion in this matter. You say, 
Mrs. Douglass, that you were not aware of the existing law ?" I 
replied that I was not, and that I was not disposed to violate 
the laws of any people or place where I might reside. He then, 
being perfectly satisfied with my good intentions, frank acknow- 
ledgment, and ignorance of the law, dismissed the matter; for 
which I tendered him my thanks, and left the court room. 

Imagine my surprise, when I reached the steps of the court- 
house, to find a crowd of colored men, women, and children, the 
parents and relatives of friends of our little scholars, waiting to 
learn the decision of the Mayor. They greeted myself and 
daughter with many blessings, and said that if we had anything 
to pay they had the money ready for us. I replied that such 
was not the case, and that there had been no harm done ; and 
after warmly thanking them for their kindness and sympathy, 
we looked around for our little scholars, gathered as many of 
them as we could together, and took them back to the school- 
room, where we gave each of them their books and slates, and, 
2* 



20 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



with wounded hearts, took leave of them, one by one. It was a 
sad parting, and we grieved to think that they must henceforth 
grow up in darkness and ignorance. For several days it was as 
much as we could do to receive the visits of the parents and 
friends of those children, many of whom we had never seen be- 
fore. They lamented over the breaking up of our little school, 
and many shed tears freely. They showered their blessings upon 
us, and prayed for our welfare, and were evidently truly grate- 
ful for all we had done for their children. 

It is generally thought in the Southern States that the negroes 
are ungrateful, but I, for one, have never found them so. From 
the day that I first interested myself in these unfortunate people, 
to the day I left the city of Norfolk, they literally showered 
upon us their grateful blessings. In my opinion, those who call 
the Southern negroes ungrateful, are only those who never do 
anything to call forth th a t emotion. I believe the oppressed to 
be more susceptible of gratitude than any other class. I have 
ever found them so. May I ask what gratitude do they owe to 
those who will degrade them ? What gratitude does that child 
owe to his own father, who coldly sells him as his slave? Let 
us first practice justice and mercy ourselves, and then ask for 
the gratitude of our slaves. 

My scholars having been dismissed, and the school given up, 
in obedience to the requirements of the law, I felt perfectly 
satisfied that the matter had there ended. I had promised my 
daughter, some months before, a nsit to New York, during the 
intended vacation of our school, but the authorities did not 
allow us the pleasure of thus indulging our scholars, having 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 21 



given them an earlier and much longer vacation than we ever 
dreamed of. 

My daughter left Norfolk on the 29th day of June, for the 
city of New York, intending to return about the first of Septem- 
ber. In her absence I was left entirely alone, without even a 
servant, and so remained for about six months, seldom going 
out, and receiving but few visitors, aside from my little scholars 
who would occasionally come to see me, and bring some little 
token of their continued affection. They all knew that I was 
very fond of flowers, and it was seldom that my table did not 
contain bouquets from their hands. Indeed, they kept me sup- 
plied with flowers during the whole summer. I still continued 
to visit them whenever they were sick, for I knew that no autho- 
rities could prevent this. Both I and my friends supposed that 
the matter was forever ended, until the 13th day of July, when, 
to my utter astonishment, I was served with a legal paper, of 
which the following is a correct copy : — 

H The Commonwealth of Virginia 

To the Sergeant of the City of Norfolk : < 

You are hereby commanded to summon Margaret Douglass, 
and Rosa Douglass, to appear before the Judge of our Circuit 
Court of the City of Norfolk, at the Court House of our said 
City, on the first day of the next November Term, to answer a 
presentment of the Grand Jury made against them in the said 
Court, on the 2d day of June, 1853, for this, that the said Mar- 
garet Douglass, and Rosa Douglass, and each of them, did, on 
the 9th day of May, 1853, at the City of Norfolk, unlawfully 



22 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



assemble with divers negroes, for the purpose of instructing them 
to read and to write, and did instruct them to read and to write, 
contrary to the Act of the General Assembly, in such case made 
and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the Common- 
wealth of Virginia. 

Witness, John Williams, Clerk of our said Court, at the 
Court House, this 13th day of July, 1853, in the 78th year of 
the Commonwealth. 

(Signed,) Jno. Williams, C. C. 
A Copy, (Signed,) Jno. Williams, C. C. 

This document needs but little comment. I merely ask, was 
not the cause a great one that enabled a j^oor weak woman thus 
to disturb " the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of 
Virginia," and that, too, " in the 78th year" of its existence ? 
Were not the subject too serious, one might venture to laugh at 
the idea of the fearful perils to which that dignified and aristo- 
cratic State was subjected, by the fact that a few little negro boys 
and girls had learned that famous sentence " In Adam's fall we 
sinned all." Let the fact be recorded, and go down to posterity 
among the noble archives of that noble State, that her existence 
was jeopardized in the year 1853, by the shocking occurrence of 
some of its inhabitants learning " to read and to write." Shades 
of Henry Clay, of Thomas Jefferson, of John Kandolph, and of 
all the dead worthies of Virginia, behold a specimen of enlighten- 
ed progression that is something more than an abstraction ! 

After receiving this paper, the effect of which I well under- 
stood, my mind was heavily taxed as to what course I should 
pursue in the matter. Owing to my retired way of living and 






NARRATIVE OP MRS. DOUGLASS. 23 



my constant employment, I had but little time to spare from 
my daily avocations, but a vast amount of time for reflection. 
My pecuniary means being limited, and having but little affec- 
tion for lawyers, I determined to rely upon the justice of my 
cause, and plead my own case. Therefore, for four months I was 
engaged in hard study, hard labor, and hard living, my mind 
being as fully occupied as my hands. I determined to converse 
with no one, and when the matter would be occasionally brought 
up by others, I would have as little to say as possible, and 
few knew the course of action that I intended to pursue. In 
the first place, I had no quarrel with the people of Virginia, and 
did not wish to have, and I determined to enter into no conflict 
with them. I also felt certain that, if I employed counsel, many 
good men and women of Norfolk, who had done all that I had, 
would be brought into the same difficulty. Leaving self entirely 
out of the question, I determined not to do anything to place 
those engaged in Christ's Church Sunday-school in the same 
difficulty with myself, for I heartily approved of what they were 
and had been doing. I also believed that, if I kept quiet, the 
matter would still amount to nothing. I could not believe that 
men who boasted of their talents and benevolence could be so 
blinded by their attachment to their peculiar institution as to 
farther irritate a matter that would, from beginning to end, 
prove disgraceful to them and to their State. I therefore took a 
firm stand, and was determined to maintain the principle for 
which I was doomed to suffer ) for, as I have said before, I am a 
strong advocate for the religious and moral instruction of the 
Southern slaves. I was determined to express my views freely, 
should my case ever be brought before the court. During the 



24 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



whole of this prosecution, I did nothing, either by word or 
action, to irritate the people of Norfolk, and, though I might 
have replied to the paragraphs against me inserted in their 
newspapers, I did not do so ; and, though extremely mortifying 
to my feelings to have my name brought so freely into the 
public prints, still I was silent, and bore my persecutions with 
patience. 

Although I corresponded regularly with my daughter every 
week, I did not make known to her the condition of affairs, de- 
siring not to mar her happiness with our northern friends, until 
the first of September, when I directed her to remain in New 
York, until I should call her home. Thus my readers will see 
that my daughter did not " run away" from the authorities of 
Norfolk, and the assertions to that effect in their papers were 
utterly false. She left Norfolk before the summons was served, 
and remained there at my instance, in ignorance of what was 
going on at home. Norfolk was our adopted home, and we never 
had the slightest idea of running away from it. No, indeed : 
we would not so far forget our native dignity, as to have it said 
that a South Carolinian ran from a Virginian. As it has since 
been proven, the authorities and people of Norfolk would have 
been very glad if we had taken this course, in order that they 
might at once have been relieved from the odium of pursuing 
the prosecution, and at the same time been enabled to brand us 
as fugitives from justice. The Richmond Examiner has recently 
said that my prison doors were open at my bidding. It is very 
true that they were, but for what purpose, and how would my 
flight have been regarded? 
[ < Believing that my lonely situation naturally called loudly for 



NARRATIVE OP MRS DOUGLASS. 25 



friends, I thought that in that city of churches, some one, at 
least among the religious part of the community, would come 
forward and offer me sympathy and advice without being solicited 
therefor; but will my readers believe me when I say, that not 
one solitary individual thus manifested the least interest in the 
matter ? I determined, therefore, to ask nothing at the hands 
of a Virginian, for I had never done so during the eight years 
that I had resided among them, and I can truly say that I owe 
the people of Norfolk nothing: no, not even for the exercise of 
common humanity. 

As the time drew near when I would be called upon by the 
attorney of the commonwealth to appear for trial, I felt myself 
thoroughly prepared to meet the worst, and on the first day of 
the November Term, I voluntarily stood before him in his office, 
and had a brief conversation with him, in which I informed him, 
that I was ready to meet the case, and that he would oblige me 
by bringing it on as soon as possible, as my mind was heavily 
taxed, and I had little time to lose. He promised to do so, and 
inquired who was my counsel. I told him that I was my own 
counsellor, and should employ no other. It was my first interview 
with this gentleman, and I was much pleased with his manner 
and conversation. He remarked that he should be placed in a 
rather disagreeable position, by having to plead against a lady. 
I replied, that I wished to be friendly with him, and hoped that 
he would not think me unreasonable : that I expected him to do 
his duty, and that I should certainly endeavor to do mine. I 
believe that the matter gave him some uneasiness, when he found 
that I was determined to plead my own case, and, after explain- 
ing a few points to him, he remarked that the matter had 



26 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



entirely slipped his memory, and that he had not before thought 
seriously about it. He promised to send for me whenever I was 
wanted, and soon after did so ; but, another case not being con- 
cluded, I was compelled to await still another day. The day of 
trial came at last, and I proceeded to the Court House, unattend- 
ed by any one, and, seating myself in the jury room, patiently 
awaited the summons to appear before the Court. I had pro- 
vided myself with a neat and becoming dress, in a description 
of which my lady readers may be interested. It was made of 
black velvet, fitting closely and neatly to my form, with rich 
flowing lace sleeves, white kid gloves, and a plain straw bonnet, 
neatly trimmed with white. I had in my hand the copy of the 
summons, and a small red pocket Bible, which my daughter 
used when she visited the sick children. I had written nothing 
that I expected to say, preferring to depend on my own ener- 
gies in whatever emergencies I might be placed. Being fully 
acquainted with the rules of courtesy, and the respect due from 
a lady to every true gentleman, as well as that required by an 
honorable Court, I determined not to do the slightest violence to 
the feelings of any one present, but to proffer all due considera- 
tion to the Court and counsellors, and I certainly expected the 
same in return. In my determination to plead my own case, I 
did not desire to step out of the natural sphere of my sex, or to 
force myself into the position of a counsellor, but I y?&8 the 
party most deeply interested ; had given the matter all due re- 
flection, and was best acquainted with its merits ; had gathered 
together every fragment and woven them into one web, and it 
pleased me to unravel it myself; for I was prosecuted for viola- 
ting a law that I knew nothing about. Certainly no favors had 



NARRATIVE Otf MRS. t)OtJGLAsS. 27 



been shown to me because I Was a woman, and therefore I be- 
lieved that I possessed the right to defend myself in my own 
way. 

As I sat in the jury-room, waiting to be called, that body 
Were receiving their charge from the judge in some petty case 
tried the day before. When they entered, I was invited into 
the court-room. The Prosecuting Attorney of the Common- 
wealth received me at the door, and we passed in together, I 
taking my seat at the counsellor's table, directly facing his 
Honor the learned Judge. I entered the room with a firm step, 
walked proudly through the dark cloud of heads that I saw 
around me, and when I took my seat I was perfectly calm and 
collected. It was some time before the court was fairly organ- 
ized; for everybody present seemed to be confused, except 
myself. Finally, the jury were sworn, and the witnesses for the 
Commonwealth called. 

Mr. Cherry, the City Constable, who made the original arrest, 
was sworn, and examined by the Prosecuting Attorney ; and, as 
he testified merely to the facts as they really were, and knew no- 
thing farther, I did not cross-examine him. The same may be 
said of officer Cox, his assistant at the time of the descent upon 
the school, who was next called; and also of his Honor, Mayor 
Stubbs, neither of whom were questioned by me. The next wit- 
ness called for the prosecution was Mr. C. C. Melson, the agent 
of my landlord, who, although unexpectedly called upon, walked 
firmly to the witness stand, placed his hands behind him, fixed his 
eyes steadily upon the jury, and answered every question with a 
degree of promptness that did him credit. He testified merely 
that he was acquainted with me, and was the agent and collec- 



28 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



tor of rents for Mr. Taylor, niy landlord; that lie rented me the 
house, but not for the purpose of keeping a negro school, and 
that he did not know that one was kept there j that I engaged 
the house when the foundation was laid, and had lived in it 
ever since. On being asked if he ever saw any colored children 
entering it, he replied that he never watched his tenants' houses 
to see who went in or out. There was no necessity for cross- 
examining Mr. Melson \ and as sufficient facts were deemed 
proven, and not denied by me, to substantiate the alleged viola- 
tion of the letter of the law, the case for the prosecution here 
rested. I then informed the Prosecuting Attorney that I 
wished, before examining my witnesses, to make a statement to 
the court in reference to my daughter's absence ; and, permis- 
sion being granted. I then addressed his Honor and the jury : 

"I beg leave to inform your honor, and you, gentlemen of the 
jury, that my daughter, whose name is joined with mine in this 
prosecution, is at present in the city of New York, and was there 
at the time the summons was issued and served upon me : but, 
if she were in Norfolk at this time, I do not know that you have 
any business whatever with her. She is under age, and has 
been brought up in strict obedience to me in all things. I am alone 
responsible for any act of hers, as well as for my own. I am 
here to answer to any charge that may be brought against me. 
I have been notified to present myself this day before this court 
to answer to the charge of having been engaged in teaching 
colored children to read and to write, and I am informed that in 
so doing I have been acting against tne peace ana dignity 01 .tne 
Commonweaitn. Thii .harge, gentlemen^ I do not like ; but w_ 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 29 



shall see who it is that destroys our peace and insults our 
dignity" 

The Prosecuting Attorney here touched me on the arm, think- 
ing that I was about to discuss the merits of the case before the 
testimony was closed. This somewhat disconcerted me, but I 
took my seat and soon regained my calmness, and proceeded to 
call my witnesses. 

I had but three, Mr. Walter Taylor, Mr. Sharp, a lawyer, 
and Mr. John Williams, also a lawyer and the Clerk of the 
Court in which I was being tried. All these gentlemen were 
members of Christ's Church, and ; together with their wives and 
daughters, were teachers and instructors of negroes in the 
Sunday-school held habitually in the lecture room of that 
Church. Mr. Williams had penned with his own hands the 
summons that had brought me then before the court, while his 
own daughter, Miss Eliza Williams was then teaching in that 
Sunday-school the same children that were in our school, and 
from the same books that they used with us. Among others 
who were also engaged in teaching in that Sunday-school, and 
from the same books that we used, I may mention Mrs. Dixon, 
Mrs. Southgate, Mrs. Pinkum, Miss Martha Taylor, Miss 
Jane Watson, Miss Henrietta Hunter, the Hon. Tazewell 
Taylor, and even some members of the family of Judge Baker 
who presided on the Bench at my trial, and finally fixed and 
passed my sentence. In giving the names of these persons, I 
am not actuated by any malicious feelings towards them, for I 
most heartily approve of all that they have done in the matter 
of instructing the colored people of Norfolk, but I do it merely 
to show the injustice to which I was subjected, while these indi- 



30 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



•viduals, representing the aristocracy of that town, and who had 
done all, and more than I had done, and because they were such 
aristocracy, were not only allowed to escape the punishment at- 
tached to the offence of which we were equally guilty, hut also 
to aid in the prosecution against me, and even sit in judgment 
upon me. The deductions from these simple facts are so clear 
and simple that I need not direct the attention of my readers to 
them more particularly. 

The excitement in the Court room, when the names of my 
three witnesses were called, was most intense, and when it sub- 
sided, Mr. Taylor was put upon the stand, and testified as 
follows : — 

Question. Was you a teacher in the Christ Church Sunday- 
school ? 

Answer. Tor the white children I was, and the school was 
held in the church. 

Q. Did you never visit the lecture room ? 
A. I had nothing to do with the school that was kept there ? 
Q. Did you never distribute books to the negro children of 
that school ? 

A. I attended the library of the school for white children. 
Q. Did you not instruct colored children to read from those 
books ? 

A. I did not. 

Mr. Taylor was not cross-examined by the Prosecuting Attor- 
ney, and I allowed him to take his seat, and called Mr. John 
Williams, Attorney, and Clerk of the Court. This gentleman 
took the stand with a pallid countenance, and quivering lip, 
evidently extremely troubled by the position in which he found 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 31 



himself placed. My benevolent feelings would not allow him 
to convict himself or his amiable daughter, and I therefore 
asked him a few unimportant questions, and dismissed him. I 
then called Lawyer Sharp, who testified as follows : — 

Q. "Were you a teacher in the school for colored children, 
held in Christ's Church Lecture room ? 

A. No, madam. 

Q. Did you not attend the Sabbath-school held there for the 
instruction of negro children? 

A. I went there, occasionally, and lectured to them. 

Q. Did you not distribute books among them ? 

J 1 ,. The ladies had all to do with that! 

Q. When you visited that school, did you not instruct them 
yourself ? 

To this question he replied very sharply, — thus evincing his 
name to be indicative of his character and disposition, — that they 
did not teach them to read and write, and that he did not know 
that the law prohibited religious and moral instruction to 
negroes. 

I answered, " If you, sir, who are engaged in the practice of 
the law, did not know it, how could it be expected that I should V 

u Madam V said he, as though he did not understand me. I 
repeated the question, and he then addressed the Judge, and 
asked permission to say what he had to communicate directly to 
the jury. I made no objection, and he proceeded to state as 
follows : — 

That certain negroes applied to Rev. Mr. Cummings, the 
Pastor of Christ's Church, for religious instruction, and were 
allowed to meet for that purpose in the lecture room of the 



32 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OT VIRGINIA* 



church. He (Sharp) occasionally visited the school and lectured 
to them. He found that some of them could read very well, but 
that when they came to the hard words, he allowed them to skip 
over them I 

This was sufficient for my purposes. This witness, having at 
first denied that the members of that school were taught to read, 
when the question was pressed home, endeavored to escape the 
perils of his position by saying that the ladies had all to do with 
that ! Oh, brave Mr. Sharp ! You will henceforth be remember- 
ed in Norfolk as having crept under the ladies' aprons in order 
to shelter yourself from the eye of the insulted law. 

But, even after this, he admitted that the scholars were in 
possession of books, for he, himself, examined them, and found 
that some of them could read very well. He could not be mis- 
taken about this, because he allowed them to skip over the hard 
words. This was his own language, and I here leave him where 
he left himself. 

These books were, in many instances, the identical copies 
used in my school, and my only object in introducing this testi- 
mony was to show the jury that I had been doing only what was 
habitually done in this school, and that if I was guilty of a viola- 
tion of the law, I had abundant precedents among the aristocracy 
of the city. This having been shown conclusively by the 
unwilling witness, Sharp, my case is ended. 

The Prosecuting Attorney, who treated me with the utmost 
respect and deference throughout the whole proceedings, gallantly 
waived his right to address the jury first, and I proceeded with 
my closing speech as follows : — 



NARRATIVE OE MRS. DOUGLASS. 38 



" Gentlemen op the Jury : 

u I now deem it right and proper that you should know sonic- 
thing of Mrs. Douglass, who stands before you charged with 
violating your laws. I do not plead guilty to this charge, for, in 
my opinion, to he a violator of any law or laws, the individual 
must know that they are such, which I did not, and had abund- 
ant precedents among those who should have known it, if they 
were such, for what I did. I am a Southern woman by birth, 
education, and feeling. I have been a slaveholder myself, and 
I would be again, if I felt so disposed. I am a native of and 
have always resided in a Southern slave State. The house of 
my childhood is as dear to me as my life, and I am as deeply in- 
terested in the welfare of Virginia, and of the whole united 
Southern slave States, as I am in the State of South Carolina j 
yes, and a great deal more so than very many who call them- 
selves men. I am no abolitionist, neither am I a fanatic, and I 
am by education as strongly opposed as you are to the interfe- 
rence of Northern anti-slavery men with our institutions, 
although I believe that their principles are based on a religious 
foundation. I deem it the duty of every Southerner, morally 
and religiously, to instruct his slaves, that they may know their 
duties to their masters, and to their common God. Let the 
masters first do their duty to them, for they are still our slaves 
and servants, whether bond or free, and can be nothing else in 
our community. Let us not quarrel with our neighbors, but 
rather look around us and see what we have ourselves to do that 
we have left undone so long. I am a strong advocate for the 
religious and moral instruction of the whole human family. I 
have always instructed my own slaves, and will continue to do 



EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



so as lon^ as I remain in a slave State. Still, I am not disposed 
to violate the laws of any people or place where I may chance 
to reside. I cannot believe for a moment that this prosecution is j 
a mere matter of dollars and cents, or that there i3 not one truly 
good and noble hearted man among you. Oh no ; this I cannot 
and will not believe. Then let it be the welfare of your people 
and your country that you seek, and I am with you, heart and 
soul. This is a matter that calls for the consideration of every 
true and noble heart — the common welfare of our people. So 
far as my knowledge of human nature extends, the man who is 
born a coward, nursed in the lap of ignorance, and brought up a 
coward, naturally dies a coward. The application of this I leave 
to yourselves. 

" The children whom I had for instruction were members of 
Christ's Church Sunday-school. My own little servant was 
handed a primer by one of the teachers of that school, with the 
instruction that he must study his book, and attend the Sunday- 
school. He was made ready by myself or daughter, and sent 
every afternoon with his book, to that school. This was done 
for two years before I interested myself in these children in the 
form of a regular day-school. I believe it is not expected that 
ladies will come to the Court House to learn the laws, rules, 
and regulations of a city in which they may happen to reside. 
In my opinion, whatever the religious portion of the community 
is engaged in doing, whether in city, town, or country, is gener- 
ally considered as lawful and proper. We took care of those 
children, visited them when sick, and ministered to their wants, 
and it was a pleasure for us to do so. Was there any thing 
wrong in this ? 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 



" Let us look into the situation of our colored population in 
city of Norfolk, for they are not dumb brutes. If they were, 
they would be more carefully considered, and their welfare 
better provided for. For instance, two or three of these people 
are not allowed to assemble together by themselves, whether in 
sickness or in health. There is no provision made for them, 
whatever the circumstances may be, and such meetings are pro- 
nounced unlawful and treasonable. Think you, gentlemen, that 
there is not misery and distress among these people ? Yes, 
indeed, misery enough, and frequently starvation. Even those 
that are called free are heavily taxed, and their privileges 
greatly limited ; and when they are sick, or in want, on whom 
.does the duty devolve to seel^them out and administer to their 
necessities ? Does it fall upon you, gentlemen ? Oh no, it is 
not expected that gentlemen will take the trouble to seek out a 
negro hut for the purpose of alleviating the wretchedness he 
may find within it. Why then persecute your benevolent ladies 
for doing that which you yourselves have so long neglected ? 
Shall we treat our slaves with less compassion than we do the 
cattle in our fields ? 

"In my opinion, we have nothing to fear from the true 
blooded negro. It is the half-breed, or those with more or less 
white blood in their veins, whom I have always found presumptu- 
ous, treacherous and revengeful. And do you blame them for 
this ? How can you ? Ask yourselves the cause. Ask how 
that white blood got beneath' those tawny skins, and let nature 
herself account for the exhibition of these instincts. Blame the 
authors of this devilish mischief, but not the innocent victims 
of it. 



3G EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



" As for myself, I shall keep on with my good work ; not, 
however, by continuing to violate what I now know to be your 
laws, but by endeavoring to teach the colored race humility and 
a prayerful spirit, how to bear their sufferings as our Saviour 
bore his for us all. I will teach them their duty to their supe- 
riors, how to live, and how to die. And now, if ignorance of 
your peculiar laws is not a sufficient excuse for my violation of 1 
the letter of them, surely my good intentions, and the abundant;: 
examples set before me by }>-our most worthy and pious citizens, |:m 
ought to convince you that I was actuated by no improper motive?, 
and had no ulterior designs against the peace and dignity of your i do 
Commonwealth. But, if otherwise, there are your laws : enforce 
them to the letter. You may send ine, if you so decide, to that i k 
cold and gloomy prison. I can be as happy there as I am in my| p 
quiet little home; and, in the pursuit of knowledge, and " with! jo 
the resources of a well-stored mind, I shall be, gentlemen, a sum- Js 
cient companion for myself. Of one consolation you cannot de-1 k 
prive me : I go not as a convicted felon, for I have violated no f 
tittle of any one of the laws that are embodied in the Divine Ik 
Decalogue; I shall be only a single sufferer under the operation ei 
of one of the most inhuman and unjust laws that ever disgraced 
the statute book of a civilized community." 

I here closed my remarks, after saying that if any counsellor ' 
present was disposed to speak in my behalf, he should receive 
my grateful thanks ; but, no one responding, I passed into the rt 
jury -room, to await the result. I was informed that the Prose- a f { 
eating Attorney made but a few remarks, not urging a conviction j c 
very strongly, but, of course, as in duty bound, correctly stating 
the law, in the case, to the jury. A number of gentlemen present 



NARRATIVE (XF MRS DOUGLASS. 37 



:ame to me and tendered their congratulations on my address to 
the jury. I had spoken in a loud and distinct voice, duly 
3mphasizing my words .that they might have their full effect. 

had spoken for nearly three-quarters of an hour, and felt some- 
what exhausted, but by no means unnerved. 

It was not long before I was informed that the jury were not 
ikely to agree immediately upon a verdict, and I therefore re- 
turned home. They had some difficulty in coming to a unani- 
nous verdict, and it was not until the morning of the third day 
ihat they rendered one of Guilty, but fixing the fine at one 
lollar, instead of one hundred. This verdict was to have been 
expected. There was no denial that the law, as it stood, had 
>een disobeyed by me, and a verdict of guilty on the charge, as 
referred, was therefore inevitable. The jury had it in their 
>ower to reduce the fine to a mere nominal sum, which they did, 
lso fully believing that the judge would exercise the same dis- 
retion, and entirely remit the imprisonment attached to the 
ffence. This was also the universal belief as well as general 
esire on the part of the community. I was not sent for on the 
endition of the verdict; and, the court, having to adjourn, my 
entence in form was deferred until the 10th day of January, 
.854. 

In order that the fidelity of my narrative may be attested by 
be evidence of the Virginians themselves, I will here insert an 
rticle that appeared in the Petersburg Daily Express, dated 
Tovember 30th, 1853, and which was made up chiefly from the 
[orfolk Daily News. It was headed " Her Own Lawyer," and 

give it verbatim : — 

" Quite a novel and highly interesting case has recently been 



EDUCATIONAL LAWS Or VIRGINIA. 



tried before Judge Baker at Norfolk City. A Mrs. Margaret 
Douglass, formerly of Charleston, S. C., Was arraigned one day- 
last week, on a charge of teaching negro children to read and 
write, contrary to the statute in such cases made and provided, 
and against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth. 

" By some means or other ; as we learn from the ' Daily News,' 
a report had been previously circulated that the lady had deter- 
mined not to employ the services of counsel, but to rely solely 
upon her own legal abilities in conducting her defence. This, as 
a matter of course, filled the court-room with persons anxious to 
witness the novel spectacle, and when she entered the court- , 
room and took her seat among the lawyers, a most profound 
sensation was created. 

" The jury had no sooner been empanneicd, than the lady, with- 
out waiting for the examination of witnesses, or the opening 
remarks of the Attorney for the Commonwealth, proceeded in a 
clear and melodious voice, to the consideration of the charges set 
forth in the indictment. 

" The surprise of the whole legal fraternity was so great, at this 
sudden revolution in the time honored practice of the Courts, 
that she had progressed considerably into the merits of the case, 
before his Honor recovered himself sufficiently to inform her, that 
it would be more regular to suspend her remarks until after the 
examination of witnesses was concluded. The lady readily 
assented to the proposition of his Honor, and the witnesses for the 
Commonwealth were called to the stand. By their testimony, it 
appeared that, some months ago, information reached his Honor, 
the Mayor, Simon S. Stubbs, Esq., of a school for the education 
of blacks, being in successful operation in the city of Norfolk, 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 39 



under the superintendence of Mrs. Douglass. A warrant Was 
immediately issued, with directions to the officers to bring all 
parties concerned before him, in order that the matter might be 
investigated. Upon repairing to the residence of Mrs. Douglass, 
the officers found some eighteen or twenty youthful descendents 
of Ham engaged in literary pursuits, all of whom, with their 
teachers, Mrs. Douglass and her daughter, were taken into 
custody, and carried to the Mayor's office. After a full investiga- 
tion of the matter, his Honor decided to dismiss the complaint 
in order that a Grand Jury might have an opportunity of giving 
it consideration. At the meeting of the Grand Jury a true bill 
was found against Mrs. Douglass and her daughter, but the latter 
having previously gone to New York, process could not be served 
upon her. On the part of the defence, the lady examined several 
prominent and respectable gentlemen, members of the Church, 
for the purpose of showing that the practice of teaching blacks 
had been sanctified by the customs of the members of the different 
churches in the city in having Sunday-schools exclusively for 
that purpose. It did not appear from the evidence of any of the 
gentlemen called upon by Mrs. Douglass, that they had actually 
seen negroes taught from books in any of the Sunday-schools of 
the City, but the fact, as stated by them, that nearly all of the 
negroes attending the Sunday-schools could read, gave rise to a 
violent suspicion that many of the ladies and gentlemen of our 
city, moving in the higher circles of society, had been guilty of 
as flagrant a violation of the law, as could be imputed to Mrs. 
Douglass and her daughter. 

" At the conclusion of the evidence, the attorney for the Common- 
• wealth kindly gave way for Mrs. Douglass to continue her appeal 
4 



40 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OP VIRGINIA. 



to the Jury, which was clone on the part of that lady, in a manner 
that would have reflected credit on Miss Lucy Stone, or any other 
member of the i strong minded'" sisterhood. She disdained to 
deny the charge preferred against her, or to shirk the responsi- 
bility in any way whatever, but gloried in the philanthropic 
duties in which she had been engaged. She denied, however, 
any knowledge of the existing laws upon the subject, and confi- 
dently expected that the jury would not pronounce her guilty, 
for having committed no other offence than that of being betrayed 
into error — if such it was — by what she had deemed distinguished 
precedents. Having concluded her address she retired from the 
court, and the case was briefly concluded by the Attorney for the 
Commonwealth. 

" The jury, being unable to agree upon a verdict the first day of 
the trial, were adjourned over until next morning, when they found 
the defendant guilty, and fined her one dollar. 

"The.z> aeon says, the Judge in passing sentence, according to 
the statute, will condemn her to imprisonment for not less than 
six months." 

During the interval that occurred between my conviction and 
the sentence of the Court, I obtained permission from the Court 
and Sheriff to visit New York, where I remained two weeks, and 
then returned with my daughter. This being so contrary to the 
expectations and wishes of the authorities and other public men 
of Norfolk, who were extremely anxious that I should never 
return, in order that, by branding me as a fugitive from justice, 
they might escape the disgrace and odium already attached to 
their proceedings, and thus get cleverly out of the difficulty ; 
they were exceedingly incensed, and commenced a series of 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 41 



persecutions in the shape of personal attacks in some of the 
Norfolk papers, particularly the Courier and the Argus. The 
editor of the Courier, \V. Wallace Davis, was the ringleader in this 
movement, and was frequently in the habit of disgracing himself 
and his paper, and insulting the better class of the community, 
by indulging in such diatribes as no gentleman would ever suffer 
himself to be guilty of. It would seem as though the justice of 
Heaven had speedily overtaken him with its retributions, for it 
is but a few weeks ago that he died suddenly, as it is said from 
the effects of some great mental suffering, and it is not ungener- 
ous to suppose that the stings of conscience, when he reflected 
upon his inhuman course towards me, became severer than he 
could endure. I leave him with his God. 

To show, that such were the wishes of the authorities and 
others, I quote the following passage from the Norfolk Argus, 
under date of February 9th, 1854. I quote, the whole of* the 
article here, though portions of it have reference to what occurred 
subsequently, as I may have occasion to refer to the other pas- 
sages. It is headed " Commonwealth vs. Mrs. Douglass/' and 
reads as follows : 

" We publish to-day the judgment of Hon. Judge Baker in 
the case of Mrs. Douglass, which has much excited our citizens. 
The first time within the passage of the act forbidding the teach- 
ing of slaves or free colored persons to read or write, has a case 
of this description come under the jurisdiction of our Court, and 
it w*as singular that this case should be a woman. The jury 
found a verdict of guilty, and the law had to be sustained. 
1 Sympathy was aroused for Mrs. Douglass. It was revolting to 
the citizens to have a woman imprisoned in our jail, and every 



42 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



inducement was offered Mrs. Douglass -to escape the punishment. 
The Court was obliged to adjourn its judgment over, and although 
a capias was awarded, yet it was the hope and wish of every one 
that she would lenve the city. But no; <a martyr' she ' would 
be to the cause of benevolence;' and to cap the climax, she 
brought her daughter, a maiden of some seventeen summers, who 
had obeyed the injunctions of her mother, as a child should, to 
try the stern realities of the lawF, and, to use her own language in 
defending her cause, 'to glory in works of benevolence and 
charity to a race down-trodden.' Then sympathy departed, and 
in the breast of every one rose a righteous indignation towards a 
person who would throw contempt in the face of our laws, and 
brave the imprisonment for ( the cause of humanity.' 

" The decision of Judge Baker is cogent and pungent, and will 
be read with interest. The laws must be upheld. It is not for 
the Judge to set upon the constitutionality or justice of the law; 
it is for him a sacred duty to impose the punishment meted out 
in the code. Virginia must keep in restraint the wire-workings 
of abolition sentiments. We have in this town suffered much 
from the aggression of Northern foes, and a strong cordon must 
encircle our domestic institutions. We must preserve from dis- 
cord and angry passions our firesides and homesteads. We must 
preserve inviolate the majesty of laws necessary for the protec- 
tion of our rights ; and there is no one of intelligence and fore- 
sight who will pronounce the judgment unrighteous. 

" Mrs. Douglass's time will run out this week, and we have 
heard it stated from good authority, that her imprisonment will be 
a pecuniary reward to her. We hope that our citizens will pre- 
vent by all possible means any attempt to aid this woman, but 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 43 



Jet her depart hence with only one wish, that her presence will 
never be intruded upon us again. Let her seek her associates at 
the North, and with them commingle, but let us put a check to 
such mischievous views as fell from her lips last November, sen- 
timents unworthy a resident of the State, and in direct rebellion 
against our Constitution." 

My readers will perceive two important concessions in this 
article; first, that mine was the first case that had ever been 
tried under that peculiar act since its passage, and that public 
sympathy was strongly excited in my favor : and secondly, that 
ifc was the hope and wish of every one that I should leave the 
city, and thus enable them to escape from the dilemma in which 
they were placed. Now, I submit to my readers whether it was 
not asking a little too much of me, that I should voluntarily 
allow myself to be branded as an escaped fugitive, and subject 
myself to be advertised as such in every newspaper in the 
country, have a price set upon my head, and be hourly liable to 
arrest by any officer, who thought it worth the trouble, wherever 
I might be. No, I was no coward ; and, rather than place myself 
in such a position as that, I would have suffered my right hand 
to be cut off. 

It nmst be said, however, that neither I, nor any one else, ever 
supposed for a moment, that I should receive any further punish 
ment for my offence than the infliction of the nominal fine already 
fixed by the verdict of the jury. Justice did not require it, nor 
the cause of morality. My character was such that thve was 
no cause to fear that I should break my pledge, and attempt to 
renew my school ; and common gallantry alone should have led 
any gentleman, much more a dignified Judge, in whose sole dis- 
4* 



44 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA, 



cretion the matter rested, to have dealt with a woman as leniently 
as the strict letter of the law would allow. I rested in perfect 
security until the 10th day of January, 1854, when I was called 
before the Court, and received from Judge Baker, not only an 
unnecessarily long and discourteous reprimand, hut a sentence to 
an imprisonment of one month in the city jail ! 

So astounded were the whole community at the shameless im- 
pudence of such a sentence, from a Judge whose own family had 
been engaged in the very same acts for which I was punished, 
that a number of the most respectable members of the Norfolk 
bar requested a copy of Judge Baker's decision for publication, 
which correspondence, with the decision as then published, I 
here give entire : — 

COMMONWEALTH vs. MARGARET DOUGLASS. 

Hon. Richard H. Baker : 

Dear Sir — The undersigned, members of the Norfolk Bar, 

earnestly ask at your hands a copy of the judgment this day 

pronounced in the case of Commonwealth vs. Douglass, for 

publication. 

Tazewell Taylor, Simon S. Stubbs, 

M. Cooke, Wm. T. Hendren, 

H. Woodis, Jno. S. Lovett, 

Wm. G. Dunbar, P. P. Mayo. 

Jan. 10th, 1854. 

" DECISION. 

Upon an indictment previously found against you, for assem- 
bling with negroes to instruct them to read or write, and for asso- 



NARRATIVE OP MRS DOUGLASS. 45 



dating with them in an unlawful assembly, you were found 
guilty, and a mere nominal fine imposed, on the last day of this 
Court held in the month of November. At the time the jury 
came in and rendered their verdict you were not in Court, and 
the Court being about to adjourn for the purpose of attending to 
other official duties in a distant part of the State, it was necessary 
and proper, under the law, to award a capias against you, return- 
able to the present adjourned term, so that the judgment and 
sentence of the law may be fulfilled. The Court is not called on 
to vindicate the policy of the law in question, for so long as it 
remains upon the statute book, and unrepealed, public and private 
justice and morality require that it should be respected and sus- 
tained. There are persons, I believe, in our commmunity, opposed 
to the policy of the law in question. They profess to believe 
that universal intellectual culture is necessary to religious in- 
struction and education, and that such culture is suitable to a 
state of slavery; and there can be no misapprehension as to 
your opinions on this subject, judging from the indiscreet free- 
dom with which you spoke of your regard for the colored 
• race in general. Such opinions in the present state of our 
society I regard as manifestly mischievous. It is not true that 
our slaves cannot be taught religious and moral duty, without 
being able to read the Bible and use the pen. Intellectual and 
religious instruction often go hand in hand, but the latter may 
well exist without the former ; and the truth of this is abun- 
dantly vindicated by the well-known fact that in many parts of 
our own Commonwealth, as in other parts of the country in 
which among the whites one-fourth or more are entirely without 
a knowledge of letters, respect for the law, and "for moral and 



46 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



religious conduct and behaviour, are justly and properly appre- 
ciated and practised. 

" A valuable report or document recently published in the city 
of New York, by the Southern Aid Society, sets forth many | 
valuable and important truths upon the condition of the South- J 
ern slaves, and the utility of moral and religious instruction, \ 
apart from a knowledge of books. I recommend the careful ; 
perusal of it to all whose opinions concur with your own. It 
shows that a system of catechetical instruction, with a clear and 
simple exposition of Scripture, has been employed with gratify- : 
ing success ; that the slave population of the South are peculi- 
arly susceptible of good religious influences. Their mere resi- 
dence among a Christian people has wrought a great and happy 
change in their condition : they have been raised from the night 
of heathenism to the light of Christianity, and thousands of j 
them have been brought to a saving knowledge of the Gospel. 

" Of the one hundred ^nillions of the negro race, there cannot 
be found another so large a body as the three millions of slaves I 
in the United States, at once so intelligent, so inclined to the 
Gospel, and so blessed by the elevating influence of civilization 
and Christianity. Occasional instances of cruelty and oppres- 
sion, it is true, may sometimes occur, and probably will ever 
continue to take place under any system of laws : but this is 
not confined to wrongs committed upon the negro ; wrongs are 
committed and cruelly practised in a like degree by the lawless 
white man upon his own color ; and while the negroes of our 
town and State are known to be surrounded by most of the 
substantial comforts of life, and invited both by precept an ex- 
ample to participate in proper, moral and religious duties, it 



NARRATIVE OP MRS. DOUGLASS, 47 



argues, it seems to me, a sickly sensibility towards them to say 
their persons, and feeling3, and interests are not sufficiently re- 
spected by our laws, which, in effect, tend to nullify the act of 
our Legislature passed for the security and protection of their 
masters. 

." The law under which you have been tried and found guilty is 
not to be found among the original enactments of our Legisla- 
ture. The first legislative provision upon this subject was intro- 
duced in the year 1831, immediately succeeding the bloody 
scenes of the memorable Southampton insurrection ; and that 
law being found not sufficiently penal to check the wrongs com- 
plained of, was re-enacted with additional penalties in the year 
1848, which last mentioned act, after several years trial and ex- 
perience, has been re-affirmed by adoption, and incorporated into 
our present code. After these several and repeated recognitions 
of the wisdom and propriety of the said act, it may well be said 
that bold and open opposition to it is a matter not to be slightly 
regarded, especially as we have reason to believe that every 
Southern slave State in our country, as a measure of self-preser- 
vation and protection, has deemed it wise and just to adopt laws 
with similar provisions. 

" There might have been no occasion for such enactments in 
Virginia, or elsewhere, on the subject of negro education, but 
as a matter of self-defence against the schemes of Northern incen- 
diaries, and the outcry against holding our slaves in bondage. 
Many now living well remember how, and when, and why the 
anti-slavery fury began, and by what means its manifestations 
were made public. Our mails were clogged with abolition 
pamphlets and inflammatory documents, to be distributed among 



48 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



our Southern negroes to induce them to cut our throats. Some- 
times, it may be, these libelous documents were distributed by 
Northern citizens professing Southern feelings, and at other 
times by Southern people professing Northern feelings. These, 
however, were not the only means resorted to by the Northern 
fanatics to stir up insubordination among our slaves. They 
scattered far and near pocket handkerchiefs, and other similar 
articles, with frightful engravings, and printed over with anti- 
slavery nonsense, with the view to work upon the feeling and 
ignorance of our negroes, who otherwise would have remained 
comfortable and happy. Under such circumstances there was 
but one measure of protection for the South, and that was 
adopted. 

" Teaching the negroes to read and write is made penal by the 
laws of our State. The act imposes a fine not exceeding one hun- 
dred dollars, to be ascertained by the jury, and imprisonment 
not exceeding six months, to be fixed and ascertained by the 
Court. And now, since the jury in your case has in my opin- 
ion properly settled the question of guilt, it devolves on me, un- 
der the law, to ascertain and decide upon the quantum of iinpris' 
onment under the circumstances of your trial ; and I exceeding 
ly regret, that in being called on /or the first time to act unde] 
the law in question, it becomes my duty to impose the requirec 
punishment upon a female, apparently of fair and respectable 
standing in the community. The only mitigating circumstance 
in your case, if in truth there be any, according to my best rea> 
son and understanding of it, is that to which I have just refer 
■^ ed, namely, you being a female. Under the circumstances oi 
this case, if you were of a different sex, I should regard the ful 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOtHILASS. 49 



punishment of six months imprisonment as eminently just and 
proper. Had you taken the advice of your friends and of the 
Court, and had employed council to defend you, your case no 
doubt, would have been presented in a far more favorable light 
both to the Court and to the jury. The opinions you advanced, _ 
and the pertinacity and zeal you manifested in behalf of the 
negroes, while they indicated perfect candor and sincerity on 
your part, satisfied the Court, and must have satisfied all who 
heard you, that the act complained of was the settled and deli- 
berate purpose of your mind, regardless of consequences, how* 
ever dangerous to our peace, 

" In conformity with these views, I am impelled by a feeling 
3f common honesty, to say that this is not a case in which a 
mere formal judgment should be announced as the opinion of the 
Court. Something more substantial under the circumstances of 
this case, I think, is demanded and required. The discretionary 
Dower to imprison for the term of six months or less, in good 
sense and sound morality, does not authorise a mere minimum 
punishment, such as imprisonment for a day or week, in a case 
n which the question of guilt is free from doubt, and there are 
nany facts and circumstances of aggravation. A judgment of 
hat sort, therefore, in this case, would doubtless be regarded by 
ill true advocates of justice and law as mere mockery. It would 
be no terror to those who acknowledge no rule of action but 
their own evil will and pleasure, but would rather invite to still 
}older incendiary movements. For these reasons, as an example 
,o all others in like cases disposed to offend, and in vindication 
)f the policy and justness of our laws, which every individual 
Ihould be taught to respect, the judgment of the Court is, in 



60 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



addition to the proper fine and costs, that you be imprisoned for 
the period of one month in the jail of this city." 

It is hardly necessary for me to dwell upon my feelings when 
I received this unexpected sentence. They were of course more 
interesting to me than to my readers. My narrative of the 
history of the case here properly terminates, it being only neces- ] 
sary for me to state that I was immediately incarcerated, and k 
spent the month within the Walls of a prison, one week of which 
was passed in sickness. I received every allowable attention 
from the jailor and his amiable wife, and even remained with 
them a day or two after my sentence expired. 

All social ties that bound me to the people of Virginia were 
sundered by this act ; I was free from any obligation due to their 
laws, and felt that I could be of no farther service to any one, 
whether white or colored. I therefore gathered together my little 
household goods, and, in the month of February last, removed 
with my daughter to the City of Philadelphia, where we are now 
quietly residing, happy in the consciousness that it is here nc 
crime to teach a poor little child, of any color, to read the "Word 
of God. 

My readers will naturally expect from me sundry reflection* 
in connection with my personal narrative. The subject itsel] 
naturally induces them, and I should be untrue to myself if I, 
a Southern woman, did not address the Southern people in terms p 
which the occasion and circumstances justify. My remarks will 
be desultory and disconnected, as I am merely to record such: 
thoughts as have occurred to me not only during the time that* 
has passed since my conviction, but which had been previously 



'!'• 



It? 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS 51 



? orced upon me by carefully examining the condition of the 
Southern people in all their relations. 

Many laws in Virginia, as elsewhere, have become dead- 
ctters. Even in Norfolk itself, as well as generally throughout 
he State, the particular law infringed unknowingly by me, had 
ong been held as such, and was violated daily and hourly by 
hose who were regarded as leaders in society, in morals and in 
eligion. But the opportunity was so good a one to make me a 
ictiin, a sacrifice in expiation of all past offences and offenders, 
hat it could not be overlooked. Caught and bound, I was laid 
pon the altar of the law, but did not experience the good 
)rtune of Isaac. There was the fire and the wood= — heartless 
iclge and quibbling lawyers, and I was immolated. Was not 
ich juslice chivalrous ? Were not such lawyers magnanimous ? 
Here is presented a somewhat singular state of things to exist 
l a State professing to be the most gallant and dignified of the 
hole Confederacy. A large number of negroes, amounting in 
lue to between fifty and one hundred thousand dollars, have, 
ithin a short time, made their escape from Norfolk to a Northern 
)rt. This is a grievously sore evil, and decidedly practical 
ss. But what is the plan pursued ? Why, after failing to 
cure a portion of them, all further efforts to obtain them are 
ven up, and pure listlessness and indifference take the place 

an active interest in favor of recovering or protecting their 
operty. A meeting, advertised to call together slave-owners 
if suggest some plan of redress, meets with but a meagre and 
I rtial response, and the matter ends by permitting the whole 
I trage and grievance to die away among the idlest trifles of 
le day. 

5 



52 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OP VIRGINIA. 



On the other hand, a lady is caught, detected, entrapped, 
following in the wake of others, teaching a few free negroes to 
spell and read their Sunday lessons, and upon proof thereof, is 
put into a felon's prison, and the ignominy, disgrace, and 
infamy even of a base criminal are said to be hers, by the bench 
and the press. If Northern vessels bear away the slaves of 1 
Norfolk, the height of revenge and recrimination seem to b e 
found in venting upon a Southern lady's head the vindictive - 
ness of individuals and the violence of the law. If Northern 
marshals refuse to perform their duties as slave-catchers under 
the Fugitive law, the whole matter, after a little feeling, is allowed 
to be forgotten ; but, let a Southern lady presume to obey some 
of the gentlest and purest instincts of her nature and the teach 
ings of charity, by instructing a few free black urchins of both 
sexes to read their Bibles, and the penalties of the law are 
visited upon her head, without any compunctions of conscience^ 
any attention to the monitions of gallantry, or any regard to 
the restraints of a refined delicacy. Alas ! for the boasted honor 
and honesty of the old Virginia nobility ! 

Here is a view of the case that may not be unworthy of at* 
tention : It is the energy of the white man that has made this 
country what it is, and his alone that will make it what it is to 
be. To the sinew, the nerve, the strong arm, the moral am 
physical courage, and the genius of the Anglo-Saxon race, is the 
world indebted for the grand spectacle we now present as a greafy 
happy and prosperous people ; and to the same ennobling ele- 
ments and excellencies in the composition of the white man will 
the vast republican empire, now spreading its arms over the 
whole earth, be indebted for its existence and perpetuation. 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 53 



Holding this view, it cannot be then s\>id that I was educating 
negroes as rivals or competitors of my brothers and sisters of a 
superior race. Holding to this opinion, with a tenacity that is 
as inseparable from my judgment as is color from the Ethio- 
pian, — knowing, as I do, from all history as well as all cotempo- 
rary observation and record, that the Caucasian race are the u most 
godlike," and the authors of all in the arts and sciences that contri- 
butes most to man's more refined tastes, pleasures, and ambition. 
I am sure that I could not, South nor North, attempt to change 
the "Ethiopian's skin" in the vain endeavor to make him an 
equal — socially, politically, or even morally — with my own race. 
No such thing, however, was charged upon me. My offence 
consisted in teaching a few poor colored children, free by the 
laws of their own State, to read the Bible, the very book on which 
the institutions of our land are based. Common charity, then, 
would have attributed to me only a feeling of sympathy for a 
lower order of society ; common charity, as had been the case 
before, in Virginia, would have looked with a lenient eye upon 
what the want of all charity construed into a crime ! 

I feel impelled here to review briefly the decision of Judge 
iBaker, in my case, and to make such remarks upon it as may 
seem pertinent. It will be seen that the letter requesting a copy 
of the decision for publication is signed by a number of the most 
respectable citizens of Norfolk, and an attempt has been made 
!to identify them as entertaining the same opinions, and possess- 
ing the same want of sympathy, as the Judge himself. I am 
[happy, however, to inform my readers that such is not the case. 
[They, in common with the rest of the sensible portion of the 
community, were astounded by the decision, and merely desired 



54 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



to have on record the exact language and sentiments of thi 
strange dispenser of justice, in order that thuy might know hence- 
forth in what light to regard him. That he insulted the good 1 
sense and generous nature of the community in which he lived 
hy so cowardly and unmanly a decision, and especially by his 
needless and uncalled for tirade addressed to me on passing 
sentence, he now well knows. The community have already 
placed the proper estimate upon him, and he is writhing under 
the double infliction of their contempt, and the stings of his 
own conscience. I have already stated the sudden and mysteri- 
ous death of Mr. Davis, one of my bitterest persecutors, and am 
also informed that Judge Baker, since the rendering of his de- 
cision in my case, " has never been of exactly as equable and 
pleasant a frame of mind, but much more morose, snarlish, and 
nervous. " Poor man ! He certainly has sufficient cause to 
be so. 

The Judge admits in his decision, that there are persons in 
that community opposed to the policy of the law in question, and 
who believe that universal intellectual culture is necessary to re- 
ligious instruction and education, and that such culture is suita-'l 
ble to a state of slavery. He, however, embraces the opportunity 
to state that he regards such opinions as "manifestly mischiev- 
ous." Hear, oh Earth ! A Judge, in the most enlightened 
country in the world, and in the nineteenth century, believes 
that the intellectual culture of human beings is a crime ! He 
professes to hold the Bible to be the word of God, and the very 
bulwark of our institutions — from it he derives the right to hold 
a portion of human beings in bondage — in it he sees the Divine 
command to every human soul to "search the Scriptures,'' and 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. - 55 



yet says that a certain portion of the world must not obey this 
command, and that it is a' crime to teach them to do so ! Admi- 
rable logic ! Oh ; most righteous Judge ! His real character may 
b3 better seen revealed in a subsequent sentence, wherein he 
argues that there is more respect for the law and for moral and 
religious conduct and behavior in those sections of Virginia, 
where even among the whites one-fourth or more are entirely 
without a knowledge of letters. Why, this man's avowed prin- 
ciples would do away with education of any kind for any class 
of people ! He would see his own State, proud and haughty 
Virginia, return to a state of barbarism, and completely shrouded 
in a pall of mental darkness ! This is the inevitable conclusion 
from his own words. Is Norfolk, that little corner of the great 
Commonwealth, so far behind the age as to desire a state of 
things so earnestly deprecated in other sections of the State ? 
Or is this sapient Judge alone the entertainer of such senti- 
ments ? Does he not know that the people throughout the 
old Commonwealth have become alarmed at their rapid degrada- 
tion, and are petitioning their Legislature to devise measures to 
stop the downward tendency to utter ignorance ? Has he never 
seen this short but momentous sentence, originally published in 
the Richmond Whig of April 3d, 1854, viz : 

u Every decade exhibits a rapid and fearful increase of this 
mass of ignorance. In 1840, the number of the unlettered in 
Virginia amounted to sixty thousand. In 1850, it exceeded 
eighty thousand. At this rate, it will not require many cen- 
ituries to extinguish all knowledge of letters in the State/' 

Here is a fact that every Virginian should ponder well. 
There is no doubt as to the data, and less as to the result, 
6* 



1 



66 educational laws of Virginia, 



unless something is done at once to stay this doward current. 
Let them study the real cause of this State of things, and not 
attribute it to any but the right one. Is the way to remove the 
evil properly commenced by imprisoning a woman for teaching 
a few little children to read ? Again I say, oh, most righteous 
Judge I 

But the hardihood of Judge Baker was evinced in his using 
the language quoted, when he knew that his most intimate ; 
friends, and even members of his own family had been and were I 
engaged in doing with impunity what in me was a crime. How 
he can reconcile his treatment of me with his conscience, when 
he remembers this fact, is best known to himself. Probably his 
usual admirable logic will help him out of the dilemma. I am 
sure I cannot. 

The learned Judge grows remarkably religious as he proceeds. 
He admits that " the slave population of the South arc peculiar- 
ly susceptible of good religious influences/' He even dares to 
say that " their mere residence among a Christian people has 
wrought a great and happy change in their condition : they have 
been raised from the night of Heathenism to the light of Christi- 
anity, and thousands of them have been brought to a saving 
knowledge of the GospeL Of the one hundred millions of the 
negro race, there cannot be found another so large a body as the 
three millions of slaves in the United States, at once so intelli- 
gent, so inclined to the Gospel, and so blest by the elevating 
influences of civilization and Christianity." Allow me, oh 
wonderful judge! to ask you one simple question, which I much 
fear even your logic will be puzzled to answer, If such be the 
character and condition of the slave population, and the more, 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS, 57 



(as by your own showing,) they become acquainted with the 
principles of the Gospel, the more they conform to them, how is 
it that you regard as a crime^ the giving them the instruc- 
tion necessary to accomplish this purpose ? Which horn of this 
dilemma will your Honor choos e to be impaled upon ? Sorry 
am I to be compelled to contradict a professed gentleman, but 
your Honor knew that you were telling an untruth when you 
uttered that sentence, and you knew also the cause of the misery 
and degradation among Southern slaves, producing as it does a 
state of things which may well lead you to fear to have them 
instructed in any thing. I know that cause, also, and I am going 
to tell it boldly to my Southern brothers and sisters before I 
close my present labor. 

You are pleased to term the exercise of the commonest dictates 
of humanity in me a " sickly sensibility" towards the colored 
race. Be it so. But I require the aid of no physician to heal 
me, and rather, would to God that my disease were contagious, 
and that I could therewith infect the entire South, A little 
portion of the virus might perhaps not be unavailable even in 
your veins. If it be a " sickly sensibility" to yearn to impart 
to immortal souls, that instruction necessary to guide them 
through life and upwards towards heaven, I confess that I am 
guilty. This is the head and front of my offending — no less 
-no more, 

The decision admits that the enactment under which I suffered 
was not to be found in the original code of Virginia, but the 
result of the experience and wisdom of the later inhabitants of 
iithat State. Certainly, the framers of the original laws of the 
old Commonwealth were men of too much sense and foresight, 



EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



too Christian, too civilized, too human, to incorporate such a 
disgraceful law into their rules of government. That task was 
left to their degenerate sons of the present decade, and even 
then it could not he accomplished until eighty thousand of them 
had returned into that mental obscurity that characterized the 
dark ages. The law, on its very face, indicates that it was not 
the offspring of men of intelligence or common prudence. Any 
law declaring that any portion of human beings shall be denied 
the benefits of education, must spring from ignorance and error, J 
and must inevitably lead to the same results universally. The 
defender of such a law voluntarily classes himself with those 
who made it, and those against whom it especially operates, 
Such a man is the Honorable Richard II. Baker. 

The next paragraph of this venerable decision is so strangely 
constructed that I hardly know what to say of it. The Judge 
literally foams at the mouth and presents sad symptoms of 
hydrophobia. The expressions " Northern incendiaries," " anti- 
slavery fury," " inflammatory documents," " cut-throats," 
"Northern fanatics," u anti-slavery nonsense," &c, make up 
the entire paragraph. His Honor grows pale over a poor little 
inoffensive piece of muslin, with a picture upon it which he 
denominates " frightful." He succeeds in working himself iito 
a perfect fury, and about what? With nothing that I can see 
with which I, or the question before him, had anything to do. 
/was not a Northern incendiary or fanatic, nor did I distribute 
any inflammatory documents or anti-slavery nonsense. I was 
a Southern woman, in every sense of the word, and he knew it. 
I used no books, except the Bible, or those which illustrated it, 
and he knew this also. The only escape for his honor is that 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 59 



he denounces the Bible as an inflammatory or incendiary docu- 
ment, and as such must not be taught to the slaves. 

The Judge next regrets that I am a woman, for the modicum 
of gentlemanly honor and dignity which he has left, prevents 
him from exercising the full bent of his inclinations; and inflict- 
ing upon me the full penalty of the violated law. It is a pity 
he remembered that I was of the weaker sex, and I feel that I 
have no thanks to offer him for his proposed lenity, for, under 
the circumstances of the case, an imprisonment for six months 
would have been no severer than the one for thirty days. He 
admits that the jury had the power to regulate the amount of the 
fine, but claims that it was his prerogative to name the term of 
my imprisonment. The jury, it will be seen, made the fine 
merely nominal, thus attesting in the ino«t emphatic manner 
their appreciation of the merits of the case. There was not a 
man on that jury who was not fully as capable of judging of 
right and wrong, as was he who occupied the bench. And yet 
he, this one man, had the hardihood to set his judgment over 
theirs, and virtually insult the whole twelve, by inflicting a 
punishment so severe that it was no charity to me not to have 
exercised his power to the fullest extent. He admits that I was 
of fair and respectable standing in the commun ; ty, and knew 
from the evicle nee, as well as from his own knowledge, that I 
bad abundant precedents for what I had done, and that, knowing 
the law, I had no intention of again violating it; also, that the 
feeling of the entire community was in my favor, and yet he 
wantonly, needlessly, and inhumanly exercised the authority 
with which he was clothed, in order to make an example of me, 
when I, by my forbearance, had refused to ploce scores of re- 



60 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



spectable ladies a ^d gentlemen of Norfolk, and some of them 
members of his own family, in the unpleasant position which I 
then occupied. He even twitted me because I had not deemed 
it proper to employ counsel to defend me, intimating that my 
case would have been presented in a more favorable light to the 
Court and jury thereby. This shows the very blackness of his 
malice, for the jury did all they could, and I do not entertain 
the least feeling of anger towards one of them. They could not 
do otherwise than find me guilty of a violation of the law, as it 
stood, but they did all in their power to render its penalty nomi- 
nal, by imposing upon me the lowest fine it recognized. It was 
the Judge himself who insulted the jury by virtually telling 
them their judgment was erroneous, and then he turns to me 
and says my case might have been more favorably presented if 
I had employed counsel ! 

The conclusion is obvious, that he was actuated, not by a de- 
sire to uphold the law and administer justice, but by some 
motive alike discreditable to him as a Judge and a man. With 
this conclusion, I leave him to settle with his own conscience. I 
have no disposition to call him hard names. He has done me 
all the injury he could, and though I may forgive him, I am 
satisfied that he never can forgive himself, or escape from the 
doom to which he has already been sentenced by every sensible 
and right thinking person in the community. Honorable Itic'h- 
ard H. Baker, Judge of the Circuit Court of the City of Nor- 
folk, I bid you an affectionate farewell. 

I will here give to my readers a verbatim copy of the law 
under which I was prosecuted and convicted. It is copied from 
the code of Virginia, passed by the General Assembly cf the 






MMftlTlVB OF MRS; DOTKUASS. 61 



1 Common weal tli of Virginia, in the month of August, 1849, and 
vill be found on page 747, chapter 198. It reads as follows : — 
" Section 31. Every assemblage of negroes for the purpose of 
•eligious worship, when such worship is conducted by a negro, 
■ md every assemblage of negroes for the purpose of instruction 
n reading or writing, or in the night-time for any purpose, shall 
>G an unlawful assembly : any Justice may issue his warrant to 
iny officer, or other person, requiring him to enter any place 
Inhere such assemblage may be, and seize any negro therein ) 
i nd he, or any other Justice, may order such negro to be punished 

(nth stripes. 
" Sec. 32. If a white person assemble with negroes for the pur* 
■ose of instructing them to read or write, or if he associate with 
hem in an unlawful assembly, he shall be confined in jail not 
xceeding six months, and fined not exceeding one hundred 
ollars; and any Justice may require him to enter into a 
ecognizance, with sufficient security, to appear before the 
Circuit, County, or Corporation Court, where the offence was 
ommitted, at its next term, to answer therefor; and in the 
aeantime, to keep the peace and be of good behavior." 
It will be se^n from this, that in the enlightened State of 
irginia, it is a crime for one portion of human beings to wor- 
hip their Maker 1 Comment is unnecessary. Those men, whose 
loral sense was so blunted, so destroyed, that they could pass 
ach a law as that, could not be expected to find much difficulty 
a enacting one subjecting to fine and imprisonment any one 
ho taught negro children their letters. The old law, for which 
ais is a substitute, was exceedingly explicit in this respect, but 
ad become a dead letter. The new one is very loose in its 
inguage. It will be seen that the expressions " he" and "him*' 



62 EDUCATIONAL LAWS Otf VIRGINIA. 



are used, allowing the Judge and jury the opportunity of a 
strict construction of the law,, in case a lady should be con- 
cerned. Since my trial and conviction, I have been advised by 
one of the most eminent counsel in Virginia, that the Norfolk 
Court exceeded its powers, and violated the law by not constru- 
ing the act literaly in my case. It is possible that I may yet 
hold all the parties concerned responsible for their unlawful 
course. At any rate, it utterly demolishes the nice theory of 
Judge Baker, that he was bound to sustain the law, and leaves 
him without an excuse for his unnecessary severity towards me. 
I now approach a subject vitally connected with the interests 
of the South and the welfare of humanity. In doing so, I have 
no rancor or malice to serve, but boldly speak my mind, and 
tell my Southern sisters a truth which, however they may have 
learned it by sad experience, has probably never been thus pre- 
sented to them before. In this truth is to be found the grand 
secret of the opposition to the instruction of the colored race. It 
therefore becomes important in connection with my narrative. 
In this truth also lies the grand secret of the discontent and 
rebellion among the slaves. Knowing this, it is easy to perceive 
why such strenuous efforts are made to keep the colored popula- 
tion in darkness and ignorance. As it is, nature herself often 
rebels against what instinct teaches even the most degraded 
negro to be inhuman and devilish, and if to this were added the 
light of intelligence afforded by even the commonest instruction, 
wo to the darling system of this offspring of the institution of 
slavery. This subject demands the attention, not only of the 
religious population, but of statesmen and law-makers. It is 
the one great evil hanging over the Southern slave States, 
destroying domestic happiness and the peace of thousands. It is 



NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 63 



summed up in the single word — amalgamation. This, and this 
only, causes the vast extent of ignorance, degradation, and crime 
that lies like a black cloud over the whole South. And the 
practice is more general than even Southerners are willing to 
allow. While even the Northern libertine usually revolts from 
the intimate society of those in whose veins courses a drop of 
black blood, the Southern gentleman takes them to his very 
bosom and revels in their fancied charms, until satiety disgusts 
him, when he deliberately sells them into lower degradation as 
he would a disabled horse. 

It is impossible to deny that this unnatural custom prevails to 
a fearful extent throughout the South. The testimony is of too 
positive and personal a character to be overcome. Neither is it to 
be found only in the lower order of the white population. It 
pervades the entire society. Its followers are to be found among 
all ranks, occupations, and professions. The white mothers and 
laughters of the South have suffered under it for years — have 
seen their dearest affections trampled upon — their hopes of do- 
mestic happiness destroyed, and their future lives embittered 
even to agony, by those who should be all in all to them as hus- 
band, sons and brothers. I cannot use too strong language in 
reference to this subject, for I know that it will meet with a 
heartfelt response from every Southern woman. I would deal 
delicately with them if I could, but they know the fact, and 
their hearts bleed under its knowledge, however they may have 
attempted to conceal their discoveries. Southern wives know 
that their husbands come to them reeking with pollution from 
the arms of their tawny mistresses. Father and son seek the 
same sources of excitement, and alike gratify their inhuman pro- 
6 



61 EDUCATIONAL LAWS OF VIRGINIA. 



pcasities, scarcely blushing when detected, and recklessly defy- 
ing every command of God and every tie of morality and human 
affection. They have not even the paltry excuse that ordinary 
liberties sometimes make, that their love is real, though illicit — 
the whole practice is plainly, unequivocally, shamelessly beastly. 
Is there any wonder then that people addicted to these habits 
are rapidly returning to a state of semi-barbarism ? 

Is it to be supposed that the ordinary teachings of nature do 
not tell the sable sons and daughters of the South that this 
custom is inhuman and ungodly? Is not chastity a natural 
instinct, even among the worst savage nations of the earth ? 
Will not the natural impulses rebel against what becomes with 
them a matter of force? The female slave, however fair she 
may have become, by the various comminglings of her progeni- 
tors, or whatever her mental and moral acquirements, knows 
that she is a slave, and as such, powerless beneath the whims or 
fancies of her master. If he casts upon her a desiring eye, she 
knows that she must submit. There is no way of escape, and 
her only thought is, that the more gracefully she yields the 
stronger and longer hold she may, perchance, retain upon the 
Irutal appetite of her master. Still, she feeh her degradation, 
and so do others with whom she is connected. She has parents, 
brothers and sisters, a lover perhaps, all of whom suffer through 
and with her, and in whose hearts spring up roots of bitternes s 
which are destined to grow into trees whose branches will sooner 
or later overshadow the whole land. 

How important, then, for these Southern sultans, that the 
objects of their criminal passions should be kept in utter ignor- 
ance and degradation. They must not read the Bible because 






NARRATIVE OF MRS. DOUGLASS. 



. 



that teaches thein of the sin of their masters. They must not 
worship G-od, for the effect thereof would be to imbue them with 
a deeper horror of this great wickedness. They must not learn 
to read and write, for every mental and moral improvement only 
tends to bring out and improve those feelings and emotions that 
already repel this gross system of sensuality and licentiousness. 
Were the negroes instructed in their duties to themselves and to 
each other, their obligations to their masters and their God, 
and were these instructions exemplified by the consistent lives 
of their masters, with the natural religious tendencies of the 
negro race, the South would become the very garden of the 
Lord. Instead of becoming discontented and rebellious, the 
very reverse would be the case. There would be no fear of 
insurrections, for there would be no inducement. But when a 
man, black though he be, knows that, at any moment, he is 
compelled to hand over his wife, his sister, or his daughter, to 
the loathsome embraces of the man whose chains he wears, how 
can it be expected that he will submit without the feelings of 
hatred and revenge taking possession of his heart ? 

I have no desire to pursue this subject farther, at present. I 
give it, as the cause of the discontent and rebellion among the 
Southern slaves, and also as the cause of the creation of that 
disgraceful law, which now stands like a great black blot on the 
code of Virginia, and under whose unjust application I have 
been made to suffer. The subject is one that will not be suffered 
to rest, for I know my Southern sisters well enough to believe 
that they will not much longer rest tamely under the influences 
of this damning curse. I have told them plainly of the evil — ■ 
the remedy is in their own hands. 



4 

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